Adam Deacon 'too street'

Adam Deacon was told he was ''too street'' by casting directors who couldn't understand his accent.

The actor - who was brought up in Hackney, north east London - found he came up ''against a wall'' after he first rose to fame in 'Kidulthood' because although he was wanted for film roles, some executives found him ''too scary''.

He said: ''When 'Kidulthood' came out, I remember walking down Oxford Street the next day and being bombarded by kids who wanted autographs. The schools were going mad for it, and maybe I was a bit naïve but I was thinking, 'The work's going to come in!'

''And of course, that never happened. Instead, we came up against this wall that seemed even higher than when we first started.

''Casting directors would tell me they wanted a street kid from an estate but their response was that I was 'too street'. My accent was too strong. I was too scary. And I found I was taken back a step. I was having to work even harder to prove I wasn't a thug than when I first started.''

However it has not stopped him from loving his local area, and he believes it is an untapped resource of potential films.

He added to The Observer: ''No, I love east London and I still want to write about young people here, but I don't understand why we can't now break out of this genre, and why we can't make a film about Notting Hill but also have a gang in it.''